About Nirdhan Utthan

Nirdhan Utthan, “the Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha for upliftment of the poor” is a micro-finance established in November 1998 under Company Act of Nepal 1997 (now Company Act 2006). Nepal Rastra Bank, the Central Bank of Nepal, granted a license in April 1999 to undertake banking activities under the Development Bank Act 1996. It started its formal operation from July 1999. Now, operated under Bank and Financial Institutions Act 2017, Nirdhan Utthan  provides micro-finance services such as Loans, Deposits, Micro-Insurance and Remittance services to low income families of Nepal. NULBSL follows group lending based on Grameen Bank, Bangladesh model as well as group lending based on NULBSL developed Self-Reliant Group model through a network of 181 branch offices spread over all 77 districts of Nepal.

Though, legally established as a company in 1998, the operation of NULBSL is a continuation of micro-finance services provided by NIRDHAN NGO which was providing micro-finance services since March 1993. The story behind the establishment of “NIRDHAN” starts from 1986 when Late Dr. Harihar Dev Pant, then senior officer with the Central Bank of Nepal visited Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. This visit inspired him to launch micro-finance program in Nepal resulting the birth of “NIRDHAN” or “People Without Money” in 1991. NIRDHAN began its micro-finance operations in March 1993.

NIRDHAN, as an NGO had limited resources and capacity to satisfy unmet demand of poor people in different parts of the country. As a result, NULBSL was established and started the operations under then Development Bank Act 1996. In July 1999, NIRDHAN transferred all micro-finance operations to NULBSL. Strategic reasons for promoting NULBSL are:

• Micro-finance are supervised and regulated by the Central Bank, which will enforce banking standards;
• A micro-finance can have access to different sources of funding enabling it to satisfy financial need of low income households;
• A micro-finance can lend to a wider range of clients, including group graduates interested to receive individual loans. Further, it can also accept collateral for potentially larger and diverse loan products.

Apart from Financial Services Nirdhan also offers non financial services to its members. The non-financial activities undertaken by Nirdhan are Financial Literacy Training, Skill Development Training, Entrepreneurship Development Training, Center Chief Workshops, Guardian Workshops and financial support for Critical Illness among member’s household, maternity support for members, financial support during natural calamities and scholarship for member’s children.     

Vision, Mission & Goal

Vision

The vision of Nirdhan Utthan is to be a MFI with a social conscience that enables poor to contribute equally to a prosperous, self-reliant rural society through self-employment and social awareness, and help to reduce poverty in Nepal.

Mission

The mission of Nirdhan Utthan  is to extend financial services and social awareness to the poor in under-served and un-served areas of Nepal in a sustainable manner.

Goal

The primary goals of Nirdhan Utthan are to:

• Reach a maximum number of poor households with potential and financial viability by adopting proven delivery mechanism.
• Develop a well-managed institution with high staff morality.
• Enhance women’s “self-respect” through social awareness, proper use & on-time repayments of loans, regular savings and provision of related micro-finance services.

Operation Area

NULBSL, being a national level microfinance institution, can operate all over the country. Currently, it has covered all 77 districts of Nepal through 181 Branch Offices, 10 Regional Offices and 1 Central Office. Out of 753 Local Bodies, it has reached more than 527 Local Bodies spread over plain Terai, Hill & Mountain regions of Nepal.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors (BoD) of Nirdhan Utthan comprises seven members, two representing individual promoters, two representing institutional promoters, two representing general public and one independent director. The BoD meets at least 12 times a year and takes policy decisions to pursue the objectives of the institute. The Chairperson of the Board is elected by the board members among themselves. The BoD is responsible to the general meeting of shareholders who meet generally once a year in Annual General Meeting (AGM). The composition of BoD is as follows:

Chairperson

Chairperson

Mr. Hari krishna pant

 

Directors

Mr. Devendra Bahadur Raut

Director, Representing Promoter Shareholders

 

Mr. Top Bahadur Rayamajhi

Director, Representing Public Shareholders

Ms Samrita Tiwari

Director, Representing Public Shareholders

Mr. Santosh Kumar Bhattarai

Director, Representing Everest Bank Ltd.

Mr. Niraj Kumar Basnet Danil

Director, Representing Nabil Bank Ltd.

 

Mr. Krishna Kumar Pradhan

Director, Independent

Management Team

Nirdhan Utthan is headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who works as Executive Chief of the institute. The CEO sets vision and strategies and reviews operations carefully. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) supervises the departmental activities and works in closely with Assistant General Manager. NULBSL has six departments at its Central Office, which includes  Loan Department, Human Resource management & Training Department, Operation & Information Technology Department, Internal Audit Department, Account, Fund Management & Planning Department and General Administration Department. The executives are as follows:

Executive Level

Mr. Mukesh Dahal

Chief Executive Officer
Head Office, Naxal, Kathmandu, Nepal
[email protected]

Mr. Narayan Bahadur Karki

Assistant General Manager, Loan Department
Head Office, Naxal, Kathmandu, Nepal
[email protected]

Managerial Level

Mr. Gokarna Prasad Upadhaya

Acting AGM
Account, Fund Management & Planning Department

Mr. Narayan Prasad Neupane

Chief Manager
Human Resource management and Training Department

Mr. Laxmi Pati Kafle

Chief Manager
Internal Audit Department

Mr. Jagya Prasad Panta

Senior Manager
Operation and Information Technology Department

Mr. Narayan Prasad Panthi

Senior Manager
General Service Department

Mr. Shubash Chandra Devkota

Senior Manager,
Human Resource Management and Training Department

Ms. Kalpana Gautam

Manager,
Human Resource Management and Training Department

Mr. Puskar Raj Subedi

Manager
Account, Fund Management and Planning Department

Mr. Laxman Neupane

Manager
Operation and Information Technology Department. 

Mr. Gagan Ghimire

Senior Consultant
Information Technology Department